Chapter 46: Reverse
[Teleportation completed, you have returned to Reincarnation Paradise.]
In his exclusive room, Su Xiao sat on a single sofa, relaxing completely for the first time since entering the Gloomy Continent. Even in relatively safe environments before, he had maintained sufficient vigilance—the causality of deathly stillness allowed no room for carelessness.
Facts proved Su Xiao's caution was justified. In previous worlds, starting in a prison cell was already disadvantageous enough. This time, starting poisoned + severely wounded, he had just entered the world and, before even figuring out the situation, fell unconscious for a period. Only after waking up with his sufficiently strong physique did things truly begin.
The game of wits with the High Wall City and the old monster was so dangerous that it was no exaggeration to say death could come at any moment. That place had been painstakingly managed by the enemy for a long time, with the old monster's claws and fangs deeply entrenched within High Wall City.
Speaking of which, thanks were due to the Archbishop. In that game of wits, before the old monster even showed himself, he had already displayed his obsessive and hysterical pursuit of immortality. To eliminate Su Xiao, a large number of death warriors converged. This wasn't even to besiege Su Xiao; it was purely to drag him down to hell.
At that time, Su Xiao received an invitation from the Archbishop. The result was that although the old monster was hysterical, facing his former colleague, who was also the Chief Hunter, the old monster chose to back down, or rather, he was intimidated.
If it were just the Archbishop alone, the old monster wouldn't have been so intimidated. The key was that the Holy Priestess was also there. Like the Archbishop, she stood on Su Xiao's side as the Chosen One.
Compared to the Archbishop's restraint, the Holy Priestess was more reckless. Before the old monster could react, all the death warriors in High Wall City were killed by the Holy Priestess. This was why the Holy Priestess had a berserk beast outbreak as soon as she arrived at Dead Silence City—she had killed too many in High Wall City earlier.
Later, when Su Xiao arrived at Dead Silence City, he faced even more dangers. The frequently encountered Sword Saint group forced him to mostly choose avoidance. The battle with the Wolf Knight Captain was extremely brutal. Finally, facing the Eternal God, it was the first time he continuously summoned World Thunder.
Cold air surged. Baham opened the life support device, which contained Su Xiao's left arm + left shoulder + a small part of his left torso.
Su Xiao chose to activate the full team recovery authority. After paying a total of 962 Soul Coins, the recovery began.
Tiny particles of light appeared around him, then spread toward the wounds. The body cells at the damaged parts of his torso were activated. A slight stinging sensation came as they began to recover in the order of bones, nerves, flesh, etc. After a while, he could feel the tips of his left fingers, then his left shoulder, and then gradually his upper arm, elbow, and other positions.
When Su Xiao woke from his nap, he moved his left arm. Although the crystal left arm also had sensation, the original was still better.
"Meow."
Beini's faint cry came. Su Xiao looked over and found Beini lying flat on the carpet with all four paws spread wide. Heaven knows how it managed to lie so flat.
Judging by its expression, Beini seemed to be in a bad mood. This could be guessed from the cat paw print on Bubu Wang's face.
"Drifted at sea again after being teleported?"
Su Xiao spoke. Hearing this, Beini's eyes immediately filled with tears, trying hard not to let them overflow. Bubu Wang beside it turned its head away, afraid it would laugh out and get scratched again.
"Remember to bring a sea drifting device next time..."
Before Su Xiao could finish, Beini let out a "woo meow" and shed tears. It had indeed brought a sea drifting device, and even bought the most advanced version. But aside from inside High Wall City, the Gloomy Continent was all wasteland, and the sea was naturally no better. The drifting device hadn't been used for even a morning before being thrown into the sky by a giant wave, landing who knows where.
Actually, Beini's experience was to be expected. Each teleportation, except for Su Xiao who had a specific location, determined the positions of Bubu Wang, Amu, Baham, and Beini based on their class as followers or permanent summons.
The so-called class of followers or permanent summons referred to the positioning of Bubu Wang, Amu, etc., in the team. Bubu Wang belonged to the support + reconnaissance + infiltration type follower, so its judgment was the highest, always closest to Su Xiao.
To be precise, Bubu Wang, who held the three follower classes of "support + reconnaissance + infiltration," often started in a prison cell together with Su Xiao.
As for Amu and Baham, one was a main tank type follower, and the other was an assassination + reconnaissance type follower. Among them, Baham, holding two classes, was at most a bit farther from Su Xiao than Bubu Wang.
Amu, holding the main tank class, i.e., only one follower class, occasionally had its initial teleportation point relatively far from Su Xiao.
As for Beini, it held the travel class. From the name of this class, one could guess where Beini's initial teleportation point would be—completely up to fate.
[Prompt: You have received 1658 Soul Coins.]
It was the dividend from the World of Paintings arriving. At the end of each world progress, Su Xiao received dividends.
The previous few times were a few hundred Soul Coins. This time it was over a thousand. It wouldn't be long before the income became very considerable.
[Prompt: Detected that the Hunter has taken the "Deathly Stillness Origin" from the Gloomy Continent. The Gloomy Continent has been re-evaluated by the Void Tree.]
[Evaluation Result: The Gloomy Continent remains locked at Rank 8. Because the Deathly Stillness Origin has left this world, the overall environment of this world will undergo a positive transformation within the next 30 to 360 natural days.]
[Comprehensive Judgment Result: This world has long lost its Transcendent characteristics. The True God of this world has fallen. The Abyss Watchers (Wolf Knight Team) of this world have all perished.]
[This world is about to undergo a World War. Awaiting verification of participating parties' transmission.]
[Participants in this World War: Reincarnation Paradise, Death Paradise, Sanctuary Paradise.]
...
The World War for the Gloomy Continent was about to begin. Su Xiao had no particular thoughts about this. The upcoming world settlement would raise his rank to Rank 9, so he naturally couldn't participate in the Rank 8 World War.
The Gloomy Continent was a resource-rich world. This World War would definitely be fought to the point of darkness and chaos. Therefore, Apocalypse Paradise, Holy Light Paradise, and Watchful Paradise had not "signed up" to participate.
This also meant that he wouldn't encounter Contractors from Apocalypse Paradise and Holy Light Paradise, and couldn't skim profits from these wealthy Contractors. Not being able to go wasn't regrettable.
This time, he would be facing either strong but poor opponents or fanatical zealots. Killing over a dozen of them wouldn't match the benefit of catching one Contractor from Apocalypse Paradise.
[Prompt: Because the Hunter has taken the "Deathly Stillness Origin" from the Gloomy Continent, you have obtained three recommendation slots for this World War.]
[Recommendation slots for the World War can only be gifted and cannot be used for private profit through this recommendation slot in any way.]
[If a Contractor obtains the identity of a participant in this World War through the recommendation slot you provide, this participant will gain additional Reincarnation Paradise merits when killing enemies and receive higher merit rewards during settlement.]
[When this World War ends, if your side wins, you will receive certain benefits based on the total Reincarnation Paradise merits obtained by the three participants you recommended (this is a special type of benefit, randomly drawn from permissions, supply crates, and rare resources).]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao found it interesting. He hadn't expected to be able to recommend others to participate in the World War.
This kind of recommendation slot was different from being conscripted. It would grant additional Reincarnation Paradise merits. Plus, if this World War was won, Su Xiao would receive corresponding rewards based on the performance of the three recommended individuals.
Su Xiao immediately thought of Solomon. He activated his imprint and used the other party's imprint contact number for text communication. After a moment:
Bai Ye: "[Rank 8 World War · Recommendation Qualification]."
Solomon: "[Reincarnation Imprint · Rank 9]."
Solomon: "Are you well?"
Bai Ye: "Well. The causality of deathly stillness is resolved."
Solomon: "."
...
Su Xiao closed the communication channel. He wasn't surprised at all that Solomon had advanced to Rank 9. That guy, like himself, had suppressed his imprint level for a while. Thinking for a moment, he contacted the Necromancer Girl.
Bai Ye: "[Rank 8 World War · Recommendation Qualification]."
Necromancer Girl: "I advanced to Rank 9 at the end of the last world, so don't send this to tempt me. By the way, are you still collecting World Core Fragments?"
Bai Ye: "I am. We'll discuss it later."
Necromancer Girl: "Mm."
...
Ending the text communication, Su Xiao began to think about who to contact. After a moment, he chose to simultaneously contact Mr. J, Crazy Doctor, and Dean. Unexpectedly, the three of them temporarily pulled him into an adventure group communication channel named "Behind-the-Scenes Cooker."
Bai Ye: "[Rank 8 World War · Recommendation Qualification]."
Dean: "Uh..."
Crazy Doctor: "....."
J: "[Conscripted]."
Crazy Doctor: "[Conscripted]."
Dean: "[Conscripted]."
Chen: "[Conscripted]."
...
Seeing this, Su Xiao directly exited this temporary communication channel. "Behind-the-Scenes Cooker" had only four people in total, and all of them had been conscripted to participate in this World War.
That didn't work. Su Xiao chose to contact the Three Brothers of National Football. Then, the same thing happened, and he saw three lines of "[Conscripted]" from the three brothers.
Su Xiao didn't actually know many Rank 8 Contractors from his own side. The reason was that, in previous battles, he often indiscriminately cleared the field. Regardless of which Paradise they were from, if they were in the way, he cleared them all out. This led to the fact that, after reaching Rank 5 and above, Contractors from his own side would receive a warning prompt when approaching a certain range around him.
Su Xiao had even been forcibly equipped with the [Team Slayer] title before. This title had no attributes and could only be removed after several world progresses. This meant that during those few worlds, he fought without any title bonus.
Thinking it over, Su Xiao took out a badge, activated it, and temporarily entered the Travel Group's adventure group communication channel. Finding people within the Travel Group to participate was still very reliable.
Bai Ye: "[Rank 8 World War · Recommendation Qualification]."
Youyou'an: "Hello, Sponsor."
Ling Ya: "Already conscripted."
Wu Mei: "World War slots can be recommended? I've lived long enough to see this. Also, thanks for the gift, Sister Ling Ya."
Gulu: "Sign me up +1."
Mo Nu: "I'll sign up too~"
Huan Shi: "Are you selling the slot?"
Bai Ye: "Not selling, only giving."
Huan Shi: "Got it. I'm a Technique Type + Gravity System + Soul System. If possible, I hope to participate in this World War. I'll do my best to win."
Gulu: "Huan Shi, you weren't conscripted? If I hadn't just come out of the Gloomy Continent, I probably would have been conscripted? I'm not weak, I think. Well, probably not weak."
Ling Ya: "Gulu, you're not weak at all, okay? Last time you beat me to near death, sat on me, and pulled out my intestines to play with. I'm ranked 67 in the Rank 8 Arena, so you're definitely not weak. Why are you so unconfident?"
Gulu: "It's a long story."
Huan Shi: "I also just came out of the Gloomy Continent, but my mission's initial teleportation point was on the Abyss Battlefield. I couldn't get out until I left. Gulu, where were you before?"
Gulu: "Origin · Dead Silence City."
Huan Shi: "Gulu, I have no personal prejudice against you, you know that. But I want to know... how did you survive? You're an Assassination System. From what I understand, Origin · Dead Silence City is particularly unfriendly to Assassination Systems."
Gulu: "Cough~, I survived with my own intelligence and cleverness."
Mo Nu: "?"
Wei Ni: "?"
Ling Ya: "?"
Gulu: "Fine, I survived by clinging to a big shot's leg. That big shot is the one who spoke at the top."
Wei Ni: "Oh, so you relied on fatherly love. Got it, got it."
Gulu: "Go to hell!"
Youyou'an: "I also wish I could advance to Rank 8, but that's so far away from me."
Ling Ya: "By the way, when did Youyou'an join the group? Is this a new member? I don't remember."
Gulu: "Uh~, maybe... not a new member? I forgot."
Wu Mei: "Definitely a new member. Sister Mo Nu added her in the last few days, right? I don't remember this person being here before."
Ling Ya: "Mm, then she's a new member."
Youyou'an: "Sister Ling Ya, a month ago, I... treated you to a meal."
Ling Ya: "Eh~, I seem to, maybe, probably, have some memory? Are you that, that twin-tailed girl?"
Youyou'an: "That was a friend I brought along..."
Ling Ya: "Oh, I know! You're that talkative girl with glasses. I remember you. How could I forget you? Am I that kind of person?"
Youyou'an: "That was... another friend I brought."
Ling Ya: "..."
Wu Mei: "Hahahaha, I'm laughing to death. But seriously, who... is this?"
Youyou'an: "(⊙⊙)"
...
The slots were quickly decided. Gulu and Mo Nu formed a team to participate in this World War together. As for Gulu, she had just made a big haul in Dead Silence City. Plus, as an Assassination System, fighting Contractors of the same rank, she was absolutely in the top tier of Rank 8. Of course, that was unless she encountered someone like Su Xiao or Kain.
As for Mo Nu, her abilities were even more terrifying than Assassination Systems when facing Contractors.
As for Huan Shi, this Rank 8 Travel Group member kept a low profile. As a Technique Type + Gravity System + Soul System, his poverty level was on par with Solomon and the Necromancer Girl.
Gulu and Mo Nu were both unwilling to act together with Huan Shi. The reason was that all of Huan Shi's abilities didn't distinguish between friend and foe. Plus, he was a Gravity System and Soul System. A common occurrence was him single-handedly taking on a large group of enemy Contractors.
[The subsequent verification of the Gloomy Continent has been completed. About to begin settling world rewards.]
[Detected that the Hunter holds a World Seed. Will it be used for this world settlement? If used, you will receive a "Massive" amount of World Source.]
Su Xiao chose to use it. A prompt appeared.
[You have received 68% World Source.]
[Beginning world reward settlement.]
Primordial World: Gloomy Continent.
World Difficulty: Lv.49 ~ Lv.83.
World Source: 187.83%.
Number of Tasks Completed: 7 (Main Tasks × 2, Advancement Tasks × 5).
Comprehensive Evaluation: S+
Beginning collection of World Source...
World Source collection complete. Beginning reward tally.
Rewards Obtained: 49 True Attribute Points (including those obtained within the world), Refined Immortal Stone × 24.
Because the comprehensive evaluation has reached the highest S+, you may choose one of the following two rewards.